The Dark Side of Cyberspace

Abstract

This paper considers the question of how to protect our children in conditions of information and communication technology convergence. It focuses on three traditional centres of action- government, industry and parent - in the context of the European Union. Firstly, it argues how the European Commission, in tackling the issue of internet content regulation and child protection, draws on an 'advanced liberal' form of governance. Drawing on a particular example from the UK, it secondly considers how industry has been constructed as a responsible actor and thus how the internet industry in the UK has aligned itself with the programmatic objectives of the European Commission. However, industry has also come up with regulatory solutions which are more ambivalent with regard to the European Commission objectives and the traditional principles of media and communication content regulation. Thirdly, it argues that the European Commission objective of making parents responsible for children's internet use in the home faces considerable resistance, inasmuch as the agency and geography of domestic supervision are both changing and highly contested.